


ripped at the edges

by peachsneakers



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, Creativity Split (Sanders Sides), Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Needs a Hug, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Needs a Hug, Depression, Food, Gen, He isn't entirely unsympathetic just a little, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kid Sides, Let's face it they all need a hug, Logic | Logan Sanders Is A Good Friend, Morality | Patton Sanders Tries, OG Creativity isn't actually given a name, Panic Attacks, Profanity, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Unsympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, he's doing his best, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27649438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachsneakers/pseuds/peachsneakers
Summary: Patton didn't mean to. He knows it's a poor excuse as he stares at the twins, standing where only one once stood, but it's the only excuse he's got.Creativity splits and everyone's a mess.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	ripped at the edges

**Author's Note:**

> so i've been working on this for fun during my nano
> 
> the sides are kids and everyone is a mess
> 
> i kind of have it vaguely planned out? but who knows where it will go. so far, they eat a lot of meals together lmao. complete with angst.
> 
> lyrics are from the cranberries "liar"

_When all I want is something different  
And you couldn't give it to me  
And all you do is lie to me  
So you're a liar, liar, liar_

"You shouldn't lie," Heart proclaims, a pronounced frown on his face. Janus scowls, folding his arms over his tiny chest. His capelet swirls out, threatening to drown him.

"But we'll be in trouble if we don't lie," Janus points out, knowing it's a futile cause anyway. When Patton has his mind made up, that's it, pick up your ball, folks, it's time to pack up and go home. He's more stubborn than a mule, as Thomas's mother would say.

"Well, then, we deserve to be in trouble," Patton says. "We did something bad."

"But it wasn't that bad," Janus protests. "Thomas would have been in even more trouble if he didn't borrow Sophie's pencil."

"We aren't supposed to talk in class," Heart argues. Janus sighs and storms off, past Creativity and Curiosity. He can tell that nothing will be done by further discussion. The others will agree with Patton, because that's what they do, and he'll just be wrong. Again. Fun.

"Are you okay?" Fear whispers, his eyes enormous in a soot-smudged face. He doesn't wear makeup as far as Janus is aware, but he still has black shadow smeared beneath both eyes. The more fearful he gets, the more it streaks down his cheeks.

"I'm fine," Janus lies, his snake eye sparking yellow. That's another thing that marks him as different. He never used to have a snake eye. Both his eyes were plain, ordinary brown. But then...well, he doesn't really know what happened. He just knows he woke up one day with a yellow eye, split pupil, and iridescent snake scales spattering his cheek and inching down his neck. Creativity and Curiosity said they were cool, but Heart had looked horrified. Patton doesn't like snakes, Janus found out on that day, and that hurt more than anything else.

"You sure?" Fear questions, dragging him back to the present. He hasn't given Janus a name yet. Hasn't given anyone his name. Janus isn't sure he even has a name. Maybe he's not developed enough to have a name. He knows that's a possibility. There are other sides he sees sometimes, lurking around the corners. They're kind of see through most of the time, like they aren't quite there.

"I will be," he amends. He holds out a hand, waiting patiently for Fear to take it. "Wanna play in your room?"

"No Patton 'llowed," Fear mumbles into his sleeve. Janus hides a smile.

"Agreed," he says. "No Patton allowed."

Janus feels a vicious little stab of satisfaction at saying the words, as he squeezes Fear's fingers gently and follows him down the hall. For a moment, he hopes that Patton heard them. Then reality strikes, hard and cold and factual. If Heart heard them, then they're both in for a lecture by either Patton or Logan, and Janus is so not up for yet another lecture by the morality police.

"What do you wanna play?" He asks, once they've entered Fear's room and Fear has both locked the door and barricaded it with a chair. It's impossible to sink in or out of the room as well, unless Fear has given one permission, which is hard to attain. Janus thinks he's probably the only side who has, save perhaps Creativity in one of his wilder moods.

"Hide 'n seek," Fear mumbles, sucking on the sleeve of his oversized sweater. It's one of his favorite games, and one that Janus doesn't mind playing. Even if Fear is better at it. It doesn't hurt their battleground is Fear's own room, one that he knows every nook and cranny of. Janus knows the layout pretty well himself, but it has a tendency to change, based on the needs of its owner.

"Which do you want?" Janus asks gently. "Hide or find me?"

"Find you," Fear says, surprising him. Normally Fear likes to hide first. He must be having a good day today.

"Okay," Janus says. "I'll go hide really good, all right?" Fear smiles at him, revealing the gap in his front teeth. Janus can't help but smile back at him.

"Okay," Fear says happily. "I count to twenty, okay?"

"Okay," Janus agrees. Fear ostentatiously turns his back, leaning against the chair in front of the door and beginning to count out loud. Janus hurries into the detritus of Fear's room, eyes constantly scanning to find a good hiding spot. His gaze alights on the closet and he grins. That would make the perfect hiding spot! Fear's closet is big and full of dark, flappy clothes, just the right spot for Janus to get lost in.

He hurries in, then scrambles up into a coat, bobbing his head down low to lose it in the loose huddle of fabric. The coat hanger creaks alarmingly, but holds his weight, and he grins in triumph. It will take Fear ages to find him now.

"Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!" He hears Fear finish counting, then the patter of little footsteps coming his way. "Ready or not, here I come!" Fear calls. "Um, unless you're not ready, then it's okay, just tell me."

Janus almost calls back before his mouth shuts with a click. Clever, he approves, praising the child methodically searching his room. Clearly, Fear has learned from the best, Janus himself. If he had answered, he would have given away his position, at least in part.

Fear has just reached the closet when they both feel it, a great rocking through the mind palace, and the sudden, abrupt feeling of something being torn asunder. Janus falls free from the coat hanger almost on autopilot, finding Fear on shaky legs. Fear looks up at him, his eyes enormous.

"Something bad happened," Fear whispered. "Something really bad."

"Then I guess we better find out what it is," Janus says, with a bravery he does not feel.


End file.
